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POLISH ATROCITIES 



IN 



UKRAINIAN GALICIA 



A TELEGRAPHIC NOTE 

To M. GEORGES CLEMENCEAU, 

PRESIDENT OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 
FROM 

VLADIMIR TEMNITSKY, 

MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE UKRAINIAN REPUBLIC 

AND 

JOSEPH BURACHINSKY, 

MINISTER OF JUSTICE OF THE WESTERN TERRITORY OF THE 
UKRAINIAN REPUBLIC 



NEW YORK CITY. 1919 
Published by 
The UKRAINIAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE of the UNITED STATES 
30 East Seventh Street, New York City 



POLISH ATROCITIES 



IN 



UKRAINIAN GALIGIA 



A TELEGRAPHIC NOTE 

To M. GEORGES CLEMENCEAU, 

PRESIDENT OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 
FROM 

VLADIMIR TEMNITSKY, 

MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE UKRAINIAN REPUBLIC 

AND 

JOSEPH BURACHINSKY> 

MINISTER OF JUSTICE OF THE WESTERN TERRITORY OF THE 
UKRAINIAN REPUBLIC 



NEW YORK CITY. 1919 

Published by 
The UKRAINIAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE of the UNITED STATES 
30 East Seventh Street, New York City 






*. ©f B. 

APfi a J920 



July 29, 1919 



The Supreme Council of the Peace Conference, by its 
resolution of the 25th of June, 1919, has authorized the Gov- 
ernment of the Polish Republic to occupy a great portion 
of the Western Territory of the Ukrainian Democratic Re- 
public; that is to say, East Galicia up to the Zbruch River. 
The purpose of this resolution was, after its own terms, "to 
safeguard the lives and property of the peaceful population 
of East Galicia against the dangers and threats of Bolshe- 
vist bands." The Supreme Council of the Allied and Asso- 
ciated Powers has decided to authorize the forces of the Po- 
lish Republic to extend their operations up to the Zbruch 
River. 

The undersigned, plenipotentiary representatives of the 
lawfully and duly elected Government of the Ukrainian 
people, solemnly protest against this decision which abolishes 
the principle of the self-determination of peoples, violates 
in a most iniquitous manner the sovereignty of the Ukra- 
inian Democratic Republic over its own territory, and de- 
livers the Ukrainian people of East Galicia, liberated after 
a long period of slavery, to the mercies' of an unbridled Po- 
lish imperialism, to the horrors of a regime by Polish autho- 
rities, and to the brutalities of the Polish soldiery. In alleg- 
ing the motives which actuated the decision of the 25th of 
June, the Supreme Council is in evident contradiction with 
the principles of self-determination of peoples, and the prin- 
ciples of democracy embodied in the well-known Fourteen 
Points of President Wilson and accepted by all the Allied 
Powers as a basis for peace. 

East Galicia, that is to say the country situated between 
the San and Visloka Rivers on the west and the Zbruch on 
the east, is ethnographically and historically a Ukrainian 
territory, in which the Poles, as confirmed by Polish statis- 
ticians, scientists, and geographers (Prof. Buzek, Prof. 
Romer, Prof. Pilat) , form, together with the Jews, an alto- 
gether insignificant minority. This country was up to the 
middle of the sixteenth century an independent Ukrainian 
state, first a principality and then a kingdom, with succes- 



— 4 — 

sive capitals in Peremishl, Halich, and Lviv. Even after 
its conquest by the Polish king, Casimir, it formed in the 
Kingdom of Poland a separate unit under the name of the 
Ruthenian Palatinate. 

The Ukrainian people of Galicia never consented to the 
annexation of this territory to the Kingdom of Poland; on 
the contrary, they struggled ceaselessly to overthrow Polish 
oppression until Galicia was incorporated with Austria. The 
Dynasty of the Hapsburgs, to satisfy the desires of the Po- 
lish nobility, established an artificial supremacy in favor of 
the Polish minority over the Ukrainian majority, and this is 
the reason why East Galicia, which has always been Ukra- 
inian, has assumed an artificial Polish air and the Ukrainian 
people have been delivered to the Poles. These people, from 
the Diet of Kromerizh in 1848 to the Viennese Diet of 1918 
have never ceased to battle for sovereignty over their terri- 
tory, and to oppose the division of Galicia into two parts, the 
western half Polish and the eastern half Ukrainian, in which 
each nationality would form a unit independent of the other. 

When, at the end of October, 1918, the Austro-Hungarian 
edifice was crumbling to the ground, East Galicia, acting in 
concert with the other ethnographical Ukrainian territories 
of the old Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, proclaimed its sove- 
reign independence in the provisional constituent assembly 
called in Lviv on the 19th of October, 1918, and established 
a government which has extended its power over the entire 
country since the first of November, 1918. The government 
in conformity with declared constitutional principles assured 
complete cultural and religious autonomy to the Polish and 
Jewish minorities. The Provisional Parliament of the West- 
ern Territory of the Ukrainian Republic, conforming to the 
laws still in force at that time, enacted new laws to meet 
current needs and to exercise a strict control over the opera- 
tions and actions of the Government. The Government en- 
acted, among others, the law of the 15th of April, 1919 gov- 
erning the elections to the Local Diet of East Galicia, which 
gave to all the minorities, including the Poles, a number of 
representatives proportional to their population. It also en- 
acted a land law based on the sanctity of private property, 
which, without injuring the system of land cultivation then 
existing, substantially provided for a division of the great 
landed estates among those peasants who possessed no land 
at all and those who did not possess enough. 

The Ukrainian National Council, in its capacity as legis- 
lative body for the Western Ukrainian territory, proclaimed, 
by its decision of the 3rd of January, 1919, the union of all 



— 5 — 

the Ukrainian territories of old Austria-Hungary with the 
Ukrainian Democratic Republic of former Russia. The 
Ukrainian Democratic Republic has consented to this union. 
The ethnographic Ukrainian territories of former Russia and 
former Austria-Hungary now form a single state which has 
taken the name of "Ukrainian Democratic Republic." 

Of all the minorities in East Galicia the Poles alone have 
opposed the right of self-determination exercised by the 
Ukrainian nation over its own country to form an indepen- 
dent state. They have stirred up a revolution. The Poles, 
not comprising more than one-fifth of the total population of 
the country have not the right to govern it, and if they ever 
have had such a right they renounced it formally in favor 
of the Russian government during the Russian occupation 
of East Galicia in 1914. Knowing that this land has never 
been and is not now a Polish country, Poland has come to the 
military aid of Polish subjects in the western regions of the 
Ukrainian Democratic Republic, and it is for this reason 
alone that East Galicia has been made the ground upon 
which is being waged a terrible and pitiless struggle. It is 
clear that this war bears all the earmarks of an insatiable 
Polish imperialism, while on the side of the Ukrainians it 
appears as a justified defense against the armed, brutal, and 
merciless aggression of the Poles. 

The Government of the Ukrainian Democratic Republic, 
relying upon the published principles of President Wilson and 
the justice of the decisions of the Supreme Council of the 
Peace Conference, sent a Delegation to Paris to ask, in the 
name of the Ukrainian Democratic Republic and the Ukra- 
inian people, the recognition of the independence of the 
Ukrainian Republic and the Ukrainian people's sovereignty 
over purely Ukrainian territories. 

The Supreme Council has destroyed all hope of im- 
partiality by authorizing, through its decision of the 25th 
of June, 1918, the Polish army to occupy and pacify East 
Galicia to the River Zbruch. The Supreme Council has 
granted this authorization on the ground that the occupation 
of East Galicia by the Polish army would guarantee the lives 
and property of the peaceful population of East Galicia 
against the atrocities of the Bolsheviki. This reasoning is 
completely contradicted by the true state of affairs and 
proves that the Poles have given to the Supreme Council 
only such information on the situation in East Galicia as was 
false and distorted to suit imperialistic schemes. 

Given this fact, we affirm, with full personal responsibil- 
ity for all that we say here, not only in the eyes of history 



— 6 — 

but also before any impartial tribunal, that during the entire 
duration of the Ukrainian regime there have been no Bol- 
shevist bands, but only individual Bolshevist agitators. We 
also affirm that it is by virtue of the Ukrainian army of Pet- 
lura and the army of the Minister of Justice of the Western 
Territory of the Ukrainian Democratic Republic that neither 
the Bolshevist armies nor the troops of Rakovsky have in- 
vaded the Galician lands. In consequence, the declarations 
of the chauvinistic Polish press concerning Bolshevist bands 
are flagrant fabrications. It is well known that the Polish 
press terms as "Bolshevist bands" the regular Ukrainian 
army, which, repulsing with heroic bravery the imperialistic 
military aggression of Poland against Ukraine on one 
side, has defended on the other side, with equal heroism, 
this same country against the invasion of Russian Bolshevist 
armies. 

These undeniable facts, which we most emphatically af- 
firm, remove even the semblance of justice from the decision 
of the Supreme Council and provoke profound indignation 
in the hearts of all the Ukrainian people. All impartial 
witnesses, — among others, all those numerous delegates of the 
Entente Powers who, from the month of December, 1918 to 
the end of May, 1919, have visited the Western Territory of 
the Ukrainian Democratic Republic and have had occasion 
to study with their own eyes the state of affairs — unanimous- 
ly bear witness that the Western Territory of the Republic, 
that is to say East Galicia, has always enjoyed, under Ukra- 
inian rule, order and tranquillity; that there have been no 
troubles, no uprising, no pogroms; that all the inhabitants, 
without considering race or creed, and all classes of society 
have found equal protection under the law; and that the 
Poles in particular have possessed full liberty and freedom 
to develop their cultural and national activities according 
to the just and impartial laws then existing. 

It clearly results from this description of the true state 
of affairs that no pacification whatsoever of East Galicia 
was necessary. There was no reason to have this country 
occupied by foreign troops, and, what is a glaring injustice, 
to give this mandate to occupy by military force to a State 
which at the very moment is waging imperialistic war- 
fare with the declared intention of annexing Galicia, to a 
people who for centuries have been the traditional enemies 
of Ukraine, to an army which during the present war has 
committed innumerable acts of violence and terror against 
the Ukrainian civil population. The long list of these abo- 
minable outrages is the most striking testimony of the man- 



ner in which the Poles execute their mandate for the paci- 
fication of East Galicia and how they "protect" the lives and 
property of the peaceful population. 



The Poles are flooding the entire world with wholly false 
or greatly exaggerated tales of cruelties practiced on the 
Poles by the Ukrainians. And even though one were to take 
these stories seriously, yet they are as nothing compared to 
the atrocities perpetrated by the Poles. The famous paci- 
fication-expedition of the Poles is being conducted in the fol- 
lowing manner: 

The Poles arrest the Ukrainian "intelligentsia", peasants, 
and artisans, and intern them in forts, jails, and prison 
camps. The commanding general of the Polish army in 
East Galicia has issued a special order of the day in this 
respect. He is expelling the Ukrainian population en masse 
from the country; he is buring the Greek-Catholic churches; 
he is killing off the peaceful Ukrainians; he even hangs and 
shoots the children. The Poles have put an end to all cul- 
tural organization and practically all the Ukrainian economic 
order in all the occupied territory of East Galicia; they for- 
bid the use of the Ukrainian tongue; they seize and destroy 
historical documents, close the schools, and burn the Ukra- 
inian text-books. The Ukrainian people in East Galicia find 
themselves in a hell, so to speak, and the persecutions to 
which they are subjected find no parallel in history. 

The Ukrainian population is not the only one to become 
the bloody victim of this Polish system of pacification. It 
is known that the Jewish pogroms were perpetrated follow- 
ing the arrival of Polish troops in East Galicia, in which 
Polish officers and men played an active part around Lviv, 
in the prison camps at Kolomiya, and in many little villages 
of East Galicia. It is very natural then that the Polish 
occupation and the so-called pacification of East Galicia has 
been the cause of a most unfavorable reaction in Eastern Eu- 
rope. The fact that the Peace Conference has sanctioned this 
pacification expedition will not pacify Central Europe, nor 
will the fact that Poland abuses her mandate by extermin- 
ating the Ukrainian people, obliterating their culture, and 
destroying their property. All this will engender in 
the future new military conflicts on the frontiers of the East. 

For this reason we appeal to the human conscience, to 
the sentiments of justice, to the reason of the statesmen of 
the Allied Powers, and above all, to the members of the 
Supreme Council of the Peace Conference. We appeal not 



— 8 — 

only in the interest of Ukrainian sovereignty over purely 
Ukrainian territories, not only to defend the most sacred 
rights of the Ukrainian people to dispose of themselves as 
they see fit and safeguard their future, their property, and 
their culture, but in the general interests of all humanity, 
with the intention to reestablish normal relations in Eastern 
Europe at the earliest possible moment, in the interests of 
a durable peace, and to assure to millions of people the 
opportunity to live tranquil lives. 

Before showing the injustice of the mandate accorded to 
Poland by the decision of the Supreme Council and the pol- 
itical consequences that it will have for Ukraine, for its 
people, for Eastern Europe, and for the entire world, we 
solemnly protest against this mandate before the civilized 
world in the name of the most sublime ideals of humanity, 
in the name of Democracy. We ask for an impartial inter- 
vention by the Supreme Council to put an immediate end to 
this pitiless extermination of the Ukrainian people in East 
Galicia, and to stop the flow of innocent blood, the torture of 
political prisoners, the deportation of peaceful Ukrainian 
citizens, the burning of villages, the pillage of property, and 
the destruction of culture. The Poles are committing all 
these crimes through abuse of the mandate of pacification 
confided to them and are realizing their dreams of Ukrainian 
extermination with the moral, military, and pecuniary aid 
of the Allied Powers. 

The Ukrainian State and its people can not surrender 
and never will surrender their right to self-determination and 
self-defense. If the Poles or any other people threaten their 
most sacred rights and their most precious treasures, then the 
Ukrainian State and all its people will be compelled to do all 
that the instinct of self-preservation commands them to do. 

At the moment of writing we hear from Paris that the 
Supreme Council has made another concession to imperial- 
istic Poland in authorizing the establishment of a civil admin- 
istration in East Galicia. The State and the Ukrainian 
people see in this decision a new mortal blow aimed at their 
liberties, and they protest with anguish and indignation to 
the civilized world against this new violation of the most 
holy rights of a nation. Our long experience tells us that 
none of the guarantees mentioned in this new decision can 
give security to the Ukrainian people. The fact that the 
Poles have never respected their treaties with the Ukra- 
inians in the past, all their guarantees existing only on 
paper, forces us to conclude that the Poles will not fail to 
ignore the guarantees reserved in the decision of the Su- 



_ 9 — 

preme Council. Poland will not fail to take advantage of 
this authority to establish a civil administration to dena- 
tionalize the country, terrorize the population, and bring all 
its power to bear upon the results of a general plebiscite — 
will resort even to violence and corruption. Furthermore, 
such a referendum will be far from representing the free 
will of the people so that neither the Ukrainian government 
nor its people will be satisfied with such a solution of this 
question. 

All these reasons impel us to make the most vigorous 
protest against this new decision of the 11th of July made 
by the Supreme Council. 

The Polish policy of annihilation in the Western Territory 
of the Ukrainian Republic, East Galicia, started with the 
first invasion of the Polish army in East Galicia in Novem- 
ber, 1918. It seemed at the time that the Poles wished to 
take advantage of their military preponderance to persecute 
the Ukrainian "intelligentsia" and the nationalist peasants, 
and to destroy the leaders of the national movement. Entire 
villages were plundered and depopulated by massacres; thou- 
sands of Ukrainians were deported and interned in the camps 
of Polish West Galicia and in the Kingdom of Poland. Even 
assassinations and atrocities were practiced against Ukra- 
inian officers and soldiers who had been taken prisoners. In 
Lviv the Ukrainians were forbidden to use Cyrillian letters 
in their writing and the Ukrainian newspaper Vpered (For- 
ward) was suspended. All these atrocities and violations of 
rights became the basis of a system of annihilation from the 
moment that the Poles were given the mandate for the so- 
called pacification of the Ukrainian country up to the 
Zbruch River with permission to employ Haller's army in 
the process. 

Towards the end of this note we will discuss how the 
Polish delegates succeeded in the end in persuading the Coun- 
cil of Five to confide the pacification of the country to the 
Polish army. In the first place we will cite facts and testi- 
mony which will demonstrate to all fair-minded people that 
a terrible conflict is being waged in East Galicia between 
Polish autocrats and annexationists and the national indep- 
endence movement of the Ukrainian people. The Poles are 
seeking to use the political situation as a means to destroy 
the educated Ukrainians and the civilizing work of the Ukra- 
inian people, and to incorporate into the Polish Empire a 
country which, because of its weakness, finds it impossible to 
resist. The Polish policy of extirpation in wiping out the 
Ukrainian population, and above all the educated Ukrainians, 



— 10 — 

is to destroy Ukrainian national culture and intellectual life 
and even the Greek- Catholic Church. The destructive 
work of the Polish chauvinists is a characteristic sign of the 
relations between the Poles and the Ukrainians. But the 
crowning point of this policy of Polonization lies in the colon- 
ization of East Galicia by Polish legionaries and disabled 
soldiers. This policy has been further revealed in the dis- 
cussions on agrarian reform in the Diet of Warsaw. 

The Polish policy of annihilation in East Galicia has been 
described as assuming most incredible forms of cruelty, 
arrests and internments en masse of the Ukrainians in the 
vicinity of the city of Lemberg. Hundreds of Ukrainians 
have been arrested daily in the territory occupied by the 
Poles, and then transported to the interior of Poland and in- 
terned in camps built for that purpose. The principal 
internment camps are at Lemberg, Dabie, Wadowice, Bara- 
now, Szcepioyn and Powiadcki in East Galicia and in the 
unspeakable holes of fortified places of Modlin and Warsaw. 
More than two thousand Ukrainians, among whom are 
about two hundred priests, have been interned in the Bri- 
gidki Prison in Lemberg, a prison which in the past has 
served to house criminals of the most vicious sort. The Bri- 
gidki is crowded to such an extent that many of the prisoners 
have not ground room to sleep upon. Many women with in- 
fant children are among the interned. In this particular 
detention camp will be found a mother, Anastasia Vidiy, 
with her child of six weeks. One will also find there a dozen 
children ranging from two to ten years of age. 

On the first of July, 1919, the following Ukrainians were 
interned in the Brigidki Prison: Madame Kichera, a mid- 
wife of Vizenka, with her two months old infant; Madame 
Anastasia Zvir with her five year old boy; and Madame Anna 
Zelena of Zamionka. Remarkable to state there are among 
the interned many distinguished Ukrainians of high repute 
who are not guilty of any particular crime, yet they have 
been lightly cast into filthy dungeons to perish. It is evident 
that the purpose of this procedure is to cause the disappear- 
ance of these notables. More than two hundred men of high 
standing have been interned in the last few days; among 
them is the Vicar-General Tsehelsky of the city of Kaminka- 
Strumilova, a man seventy-three years old. 

These prisoners are victims of the most brutal treatment; 
they do not receive sufficient nourishment and the sick are 
denied medical assistance. One need not be surprised then 
that many Ukrainians die daily in these terrible prisons. 
In the city of Lviv the barracks in Lichakowska Street have 



— 11 — 

been chosen to hold the Ukrainian prisoners, although there 
are in the city many unoccupied barracks of more modern 
construction. The barracks mentioned above are fitted with 
frightful cells, and musty walls, hidden from the light of the 
sun. The unhappy Ukrainians here encaged are dying a 
lingering death. It is the universal opinion of their country- 
men that they will never see the light of day again. More 
horrible than the arrests and internments en masse are the 
revolting cruelties inflicted on Ukrainian soldiers and citizens. 

The following cases have been irrefutably established: 
During the passage of the Polish troops through Yesupol, 
near Halich, not less than sixteen peasants were hung 
without trial in a single day. The Curate Pelekh, a peace- 
ful ecclesiastic and favorably known at Radechiv, and the 
Curate Andrey Pelensky were shot without trial by the Polish 
troops at Lisyatich near Striy. In the city of Striy the 
Polish troops shot the Curate Ostap Nizankovsky, who was 
for a long time the vicar of the district administration and 
director of the agricultural societies. At Vodniki, near 
Borka, Polish legionaries gouged out the eyes of the peas- 
ant Jasko Bondar with a bayonet because he resisted the 
requisition of his last cow. All possessions of the population 
of this city were seized by the Polish soldiery, including 
clothing and linen. At Voloshina, near Bobrka, the school 
teacher Ivan Kazanitsky was seized by Polish troops and while 
being taken to Lemberg was flogged and beaten by the sol- 
diers, and then left on the wayside to die, covered with seven 
mortal wounds. During the removal of four prisoners to 
Kulparkiv, near Lemberg, other Ukrainians were seized on 
the way, and pitilessly flogged. The commander of the 
groups expressed himself to the effect that "It was useless 
to drag these dogs along." They were shot on the spot. 
Madame Goldberger, wife of the ranking physician of Lem- 
berg, was witness to the following incident: Krissa, a work- 
man on the Lemberg railroad, was arrested while on his way 
to his family in Tarnopol and severely beaten. He was 
subsequently thrown into prison, and his wife, a Polish lady, 
was denied permission to visit him or bring him food. "We 
must starve him to death", said the officer in charge. At 
Pidbereztsi near Vinniki hundreds of unoffending men were 
flogged by Polish legionaries until their flesh turned black 
from the blows received. 

A widow, mother of seven children, and the choir singer 
of Labye were hung without trial because a rifle abandoned 
by the Ukrainians had been found near the house of the 
widow. One Malishevsky, a railroad executive, was arrest- 



— 12 — 

ed at Zolochiv and subjected to brutal treatment. Malishev- 
sky was commissioner of the Brody-Krasne and Podvolo- 
chiska-Krasne lines and acquainted with Captains Bachmann 
and Reicher, members of the American Mission in Krasne. 
The unfortunate man was beaten by Polish soldiers and in 
consequence suffered fractures of the legs and arms. After 
being rendered unconscious he was taken to Krasne. Entire 
groups of cultured Ukrainians were shot without mercy by 
Polish soldiery while passing through Sambor, Striy, and 
Stanislav. Their names will be published. The Priest Dem- 
chuk, and old man of seventy, was shot at Sokal because 
his son was with the Ukrainian force. 

A Ukrainian patrol under the command of the bugler Kos- 
sar was captured near Bartiatin. When the captives reach- 
ed Lviv Kossar was unceremoniously shot by a Polish 
legionary. Seven Ukrainian soldiers captured at Lubachir 
were shot near Sidliska in much the same manner. At 
Hiriv Lieutenant Kremechko of the Ukrainian army and 
many others were shot. 

Doctor Karl Kure of Vienna relates the following inci- 
dent during his stay in Stanislav immediately after the 
occupation of that city by Polish troops: "Polish soldiers 
broke into the military hospital and ordered the gravely 
wounded Ukrainians outside, where they were promptly shot. 
A Ukrainian lieutenant who was also in the hospital was dis- 
patched along with the rest. Murders committed by Polish 
soldiers on the Ukrainian sick and wounded are only too 
well known." 

There are cases too numerous to mention of the violation 
of Ukrainian women, particularly women of the more educ- 
ated classes, by the Polish soldiery. We cite only the fol- 
lowing verified incident : At Vinnitsky, near Lemberg, young 
girls belonging to the best families were dragged from their 
homes and publicly violated. Large ransoms in gold were 
then demanded for the release of these girls, and in some 
instances five thousand crowns were paid to obtain the 
liberation of these unhappy victims of Polish violence. On 
the 8th of May, 1919, regimental-sergeant Javorsky related 
the following at Lemberg: "After we had occupied Risna 
our first job was to gather in the cattle; whoever resisted 
was killed on the spot. The other soldiers went after the 
women while I got a girl of twelve whom other soldiers had 
raped." The statement of a prominent Czecho-Slovak on 
Polish atrocities is authority for the following: On the 
nights of the 23rd and 24th of March, 1919, two Ukrainian 
girls, Anna Mahun and Anna Tsihiv, of the town of Pid- 



— 13 — 

dubtsi, were subjected to the most diabolical cruelties. These 
two unfortunate girls were surrounded by Polish soldiers who 
held them by the arms and legs while their companions 
assaulted them. 

This description of the treatment! of the Ukrainian 
population, and more particularly the cultured classes, and 
the results obtained by this barbarous policy of annihilation 
practiced by the Poles is confirmed by strangers who have 
had occasion to view the terrible situation at close hand. 
The "Narodny Listy", a newspaper held in high repute in 
Prague, carried the following correspondence on the 26th 
of February, 1919: "Returning Czecho-Slovak prisoners 
from Poland give terrible details of the lot of the Ukrainians 
captured by the Poles. The Ukrainian prisoners are treated 
worse than beasts; they have the appearance of living corp- 
ses; their eyes are sunken, and their cheek-bones protrude. 
Famished, they seek in the streets the crusts that our 
soldiers throw away, for the Poles give to the cattle the 
bread which should be distributed to the Ukrainians, who 
are dying of hunger and typhus." 

Nobody takes any care of the Ukrainian prisoners. 
Those of them ordered to hospitals are carried there in 
wagons pulled by other sick Ukrainians. They are subject- 
ed to insults and ridicule and are often discharged from the 
hospitals while still sick. Many times the sick have died en 
route from the hardships they have suffered. 

Many Ukrainian villages were pillaged and burned dur- 
ing the first invasion by the Polish troops, particularly those 
villages whose inhabitants were considered to be patriotic. 

In the district of Sudova Vishnia, near Lviv, seven vil- 
lages were reduced to ashes. The people were killed at 
the point of the bayonet. All this was done by virtue of an 
order of General Maskiewicz, who, by reason of his cruelty, 
was placed on the retired list. But the Polish soldiers and 
chauvinists loudly denounced his removal and demanded his 
immediate reinstatement. After three days the Warsaw 
Government capitulated to popular sentiment, and General 
Maskiewicz was restored to his command to resume his 
nefarious work. 

These atrocities are on a par with the barbarous cruelties 
perpetrated in the Balkans and Armenia. And the mas- 
sacre of Cherche even surpasses those historical crimes. 
This village was noted for the patriotic ardor of its citizens, 
a fatal defect in the eyes of the Poles, for they decided to 
punish it in an exemplary fashion. The village was sur- 
rounded by Polish legionaries and all street corners set on 



— 14 — 

fire. All persons attempting to flee were killed with rifle 
or bayonet. Polish soldiers were seen to seize living child- 
ren and hurl them into the flames. 

We have already spoken of the restriction placed on Ukra- 
inian writing and the suppression of the press. Only one 
newspaper is being published in the Ukrainian language in 
the occupied territory at this moment. 

The staff of the daily "Vpered" has been arrested and im- 
prisoned. All the scientific institutions have been closed and 
sacked by the Poles. At Lviv the Farmers' Co-operative 
Union, Silsky Hospodar, and Soyuz Torhovelnih Spilok, 
(Union of Commercial Societies) have been suppressed and 
their funds and stock confiscated. There is not one Ukra- 
inian printing house operating today; all have been seized 
by the Poles. The ancient printing establishment of the 
Order of St. Basil in Zhovkva has been requisitioned, and 
the archives, together with the library, have been pillaged 
and burned. The printing plant and archives of the Staro- 
pigiysky Institute at Lviv, the most important disseminator 
of Ukrainian learning in East Galicia, and which even in the 
eighteenth century exercised a strong influence on Ukrainian 
Literature, has suffered the same fate. 

The monastery of the Order of Saint Basil at Krechiv 
and its library were plundered, and forty-three priests were 
exiled to Western Poland. The Ukrainian theatre, as well 
as all the primary and secondary schools of Lemberg, have 
been closed. Pedestrians on the road from Zhovkva to Kre- 
hiv found precious antiques and destroyed manuscripts 
in the mud. Ukrainian primary text books which have been 
lawfully used in the Ukrainian primary schools were con- 
fiscated and ordered burned by the Polish primary school 
inspectors. 

The commissioners of all villages were ordered to gather 
all Ukrainian school books in one place and burn them. The 
use of the Ukrainian language, oral or written, by the civil 
authorities has been strictly forbidden in the Ukrainian ter- 
ritory occupied by the Poles. All caught speaking the Ukra- 
inian language suffer corporal punishment. As testimony 
to this unheard of brutality we cite the following facts: 

The canon of the Greek-Catholic Consistory in Peremishl, 
Dr. Bohachevsky, was flogged by Polish soldiers because he 
answered his inquisitors in Ukrainian. The Polish officer 
presiding personally prescribed the punishment, saying, 
"Teach this priest that he can no longer use his language 
of pigs." 

At Peremishl also a certain Pankivsky, son of a Ukra- 



— 15 — 

inian priest of the district of Striy, was assaulted because 
he testified in Ukrainian during the course of his trial. He 
was beaten by a corporal in the presence of an officer and 
compelled to testify in the Polish tongue, to sign his de- 
positions in Polish writing, and to take the oath of loyalty 
to the Polish state. Ukrainian officials in all the occupied 
territory were discharged and their places taken by Poles. 
An inadequacy of personnel compels the Poles to use some 
Ukrainian officials, but these occupy subordinate positions 
only and are not permitted to exercise their civil functions 
until they have sworn fealty to Poland. 

Notwithstanding the fact that the status of East Galicia 
has not yet been defined the Poles compel all commissioners 
of towns and villages to take the oath. It is a well-known 
fact that the population of East Galicia professes the Greek- 
Catholic religion, which is by its nature a powerful bulwark 
against the Polonization of the country since the Poles as a 
whole belong to the Roman Catholic Church which differs 
from the former in its use of the Latin ritual and certain 
religious rites. One need not be surprised then if the Poles 
apply themselves assiduously to the destruction of the Greek- 
Catholic Church and the Ukrainian clergy. The number of 
Ukrainian churchmen arrested to date is more than a thou- 
sand; the greater part of the Greek-Catholic churches have 
been sacked by Polish soldiers and used as stables for their 
horses, and even as latrines. These outrages have occurred 
in Pikulovichi, Domazhir, and many other cities. 

Public gatherings have been forbidden, as has also 
the singing of church hymns in the Slavic tongue, under pain 
of severe punishment. Even the Ukrainian clergy is sub- 
jected to assault and insult by the Polish soldiery, as for 
example in the village of Botulitse, where the priest, an old 
man of seventy, was stoned by Polish soldiers because he 
recited his prayers in Ukrainian. This priest is now in- 
terned at Rava Ruska. Ukrainian priests are confined in cells 
with common criminals and thieves where they are assaulted 
and abused. In the city of Uhniv the Ukrainian priest 
was placed in the same cell with some notorious thieves. 
The prison guard then donned the sacramental vestments of 
the Greek-Catholic Church and sought to ridicule the priest 
before the other prisoners by officiating at a mock mass. 

High dignitaries of the Greek-Catholic Church are sub- 
jected to this same maltreatment and abuse. Every day a 
Polish patrol enters the presence of Doctor Kotsilovsky, the 
Bishop of Peremishl and a peaceful man never involved in 
politics, making requisitions on his household effects, and 



— 16 — 

threatening him with personal harm and even the firing 
squad. The highest dignitary of the Greek-Catholic Church, 
Count Andrew Sheptitsky, is confined in the Palace of St. 
George because he wished to complain to Pilsudski of the 
cruelties perpetrated upon the Ukrainians, and wished, for 
this purpose, to confer with the Polish Commander-in-Chief. 
A Polish patrol has been stationed on the square of St. 
George, in front of the palace of the venerable Ukrainian, 
and everybody forbidden, under pain of arrest to see the 
Metropolitan. The patrol has orders to maintain a strict 
watch on the Metropolitan lest he leave the palace. 

The Polish attitude towards the Greek-Catholic Church 
is a fair indication of the manner in which they hope to 
propagate their culture in East Galicia, and it betrays also 
the efforts being made for Polish colonization. This last 
means employed by the Poles to annex this Ukrainian coun- 
try is on a par with the methods used by the Prussians to 
accomplish the same results in Poland. It is a fact that 
from the time of the Austrian domination the Poles have 
exerted great efforts in colonizing East Galicia with Polish 
elements. Since the Polish State has been founded, and 
since East Galicia has given the Poles a reason for a so- 
called pacification expedition, they have maintained their 
freedom of action to dispose of the land as they see fit. 
A project of agrarian reform containing the following dis- 
positions is actually under discussion in the Warsaw Diet: 
The free distribution of the great landed estates is forbid- 
den; the distribution thereof can only be effected through 
the Polish colonization office. The lands shall be granted 
first to men of rank, next to retainers of the great landed 
estates, and these we know from experience are exclusively 
Poles. Third in line with privilege to buy are the Polish 
legionaries and wounded soldiers; and lastly come the peas- 
ants of the communities. For the last class the follow- 
ing clause also has been inserted: "that these lands shall 
not be apportioned where such an apportionment might 
jeopardize the interests of the Polish State." 

There is no need to explain in any detail the purpose of 
this legislation over the non-Polish territory of East Galicia. 



We must make known to mankind the methods employed 
by the Poles in deceiving the outside world as to the real 
situation in East Galicia. The Poles have obtained the so- 
called pacification mandate for East Galicia through their 
misrepresentation of the Ukrainian army. They have pict- 



— 17 — 

ured this army as a band of Bolshevists intent on terrorizing 
unoffending Poles in East Galicia. The Polish Press has 
collected a number of incidents attributed by them to the 
Ukrainians for use at the Peace Conference. The repre- 
sentatives of the Allied Powers who have had an opportunity 
to conduct an impartial investigation of the true state of 
affairs in the disputed territory during the Ukrainian admin- 
istration unanimously agree that there has never been a 
Bolshevist force in East Galicia, that there has been and 
still is a national Ukrainian army with no other duty 
than to protect the country against the Polish invasion, and 
that after the proclamation of the independent Western 
Ukrainian Republic this force has ruled the country in a 
peaceful and orderly manner. The widespread publicity 
given to news of alleged Ukrainian atrocities among the rul- 
ing forces of the Allies by the Poles are not in harmony with 
the truth of the matter and such news has been propagated 
and exploited in order that the accomplishment of their de- 
clared objective might be facilitated. 

The method employed by Polish statesmen in exploiting 
these pretended acts of cruelty by the Ukrainians is not new; 
and those who have had to deal with the elections made by 
the Poles in East Galicia understand this method thoroughly. 
During the period of the Austrian domination it was the 
custom of the Poles to complain to the Central Government, 
which always lent them a ready ear, that frauds had been 
committed by the Ukrainian Electoral Committees, or still 
better, that disorders had accompanied the elections. Their 
purpose was to obtain the arrest of the Ukrainian electors 
en masse, thus making certain the election of a Polish candi- 
date in districts where the Ukrainians formed the majority. 
This state of affairs, as well as the other electoral trickeries 
with which the Central Government was led into error were 
later exposed and discussed in the Austrian Parliament. 
But the truth unfortunately appeared too late, for the de- 
sired end had already been obtained. 

We cite some details which illustrate Polish manipulation 
of the alleged Bolshevism of the Ukrainian population and 
the so-called acts of cruelty practiced on the Poles. Some 
time ago the Polish newspapers gave pages to the alleged 
news that a certain Peter Blacharski, a Pole, had been 
arrested by the Ukrainians, who had cut out his tongue, 
plucked out his eyes, cut off his nose, and branded a cross 
on his forehead. The Tribune, a Lemberg weekly, even ran 
a picture of this Blacharski. The Polish Archbishop Bil- 
czewski issued a pastoral letter to his flock featuring the 



— 18 — 

affair. All Poland was convinced that the Ukrainians were 
guilty of the fiendish cruelties practiced on Blackarski, and 
there is no doubt that this picture of Ukrainian barbarism 
was sent broadcast throughout the world. 

Great was the surprise of the Poles when this same Bla- 
charski made his appearance in Lemberg a few days ago, 
following the capture by Haller's army of Stanislav, where 
he had been detained by the Ukrainians. 

The Roumanian officers who have occupied a part of East 
Galicia can testify to the manner in which the foreign ele- 
ment has been deceived by the Poles through gross mis- 
representation of the facts. There is no need to emphasize 
the value for the Ukrainians of this disinterested and im- 
partial testimony of a third party. 

As the Roumanians were on a good standing with the 
Poles after the occupation of Northeast Galicia and the 
Delatin Kolomiya and Delatin-Keroesmoeze railroads, Rou- 
manian officers were greatly surprised at the denunciations 
made by the Poles against the Ukrainians. Thus the Rou- 
manian chief in Kolomiya was advised by the Poles that all 
the Roumanian soldiers in the vicinity had been massacred 
by the population and that Ukrainian Bolshevist bands were 
on the march. Similar denunciations were made against cer- 
tain individuals, as, for example, the members of the Ukra- 
inian Red Cross Mission, and against Doctor Alexander Ma- 
ritchak, counsellor of the Mission, who was denounced as a 
Bolshevik and accused of having killed twenty Roumanian 
officers. Naturally the Roumanian commander immediately 
adopted severe measures, ordered an investigation, and ar- 
rested Doctor Maritchak as a dangerous person. Two days 
later the Roumanian Command released the Doctor, it hav- 
ing been proved that the Polish denunciations were mere 
stories invented for the purpose of exciting the Roumanian 
army of occupation against the native Ukrainian population. 
The truthfulness of the matters we have described can be 
easily verified by the testimony of the Roumanian ranking 
officers, General Zadik, Colonel Gerotta, and Commander 
Daszkevich. 



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